tauzero

Looks like someone who'd once seen a Gordon Smith was drunk in charge of a bandsaw.

A couple of weeks ago, my old club band got in touch to say they'd had a falling out with their bassist, and could I help out? So I said yes, and went along for a couple of rehearsals. They'd recently amalgamated with a female vocalist, so as to speak, who had brought along two further female backing vocalists. Then on Thursday night, two days before the first gig, a keyboard player who had seen an advert they'd put up also turned up for rehearsal - very good he was too, also plays with Steve Gibbons and Trevor Burton and the like. So our first gig was last night (though we were down one backing vocalist as she was otherwise engaged) at a WMC local to me, and it went really well. Some fluffs but the audience didn't seem to notice. It was also the other backing vocalist's first gig and she acquitted herself really well, taking lead vocals on a couple of songs. It's always a good sign when the club secretary comes up to you in the interval and says he'll give you more bookings for next year.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1321626540' post='1441378'] You got a problem with that? [IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/bride-of-frankenstein-boris-karloff-1935.jpg[/IMG] [/quote] There can be issues though, that bass is pretty depressing to look at.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1321276129' post='1437157']Any old Tom, Dick or Barry could turn up and destroy a lifetime's labour in just a few minutes. [/quote] Arson's good for that.

Rather annoyingly, I couldn't make it in the end - some rather urgent work prevented my getting along.

It's something I've brought up in the past, to be met with resounding silence. I suggest that if items went onto That Ebay, they could be advertised in For Sale as long as they also had a specific sale price, but that an auction-type request for bids in For Sale should (as at present) not be allowed.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1321227951' post='1436830'] [i]"who claimed he recovered it from the loft of John Entwistle's old home, better know as the Ox. Can't verify that"[/i] Why bloody mention it then? It really gets my goat when a provenance is hinted at with no effort or intention to verify it. As if namedropping a famous deceased player and alluding to a tenuous link between them and the instrument in the listing somehow adds value to it. [/quote] I'm not convinced that John Entwistle's home was known as the Ox. It's a very strange name for a house.

I've bought a variety of things from China and HK - electronic components, Arduino stuff, clothing and jewellery. The only issue I've had is with one of the purportedly B C Rich piezo bridges, which it's impossible to solder wires to in the way that they say (ebay complaint opened).

You could rewire it to 16 ohms, but not to 8.

I bought a seven-string set from [url="http://www.bestbassgear.com/bartolini-pickups-2.htm"]BestBassGear.com[/url] some time back. It was all quite painless.

PS. Seen first in Firefox, then in IE. The little arrows between forum levels visible just below the tabs at the top left of the page have also disappeare[u]d.[/u]

And the icons have disappeared again. Happened just as I was trying to embed a link to a picture in a reply. Is it just me?

I know that this is too late to be of use to you, but others may find it useful - while screw extractors are somewhat dodgy and not the most easily used items, if there's a reasonable bit of bolt sticking out, you can get [url="http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_530659_langId_-1_categoryId_165572"]stud extractors (like this one)[/url] which operate by gripping the sticky-out bit. Other stud extractors are available.Contents may settle in transit. May contain nuts.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1320343127' post='1425689']Oh not a Dingwall!! They're rubbish! All the frets are wonky and they weigh next to nothing averaging 7-7.5lbs![/quote] There's one on That Ebay at the moment which overcomes the wonky fret problem, as it's fretless.

My JD Thumb. I've had it for 24 years and I'm not likely to let it go any time soon.

I'm booked up - just hope I don't have traffic problems on the way.

An attempt to make the dullest looking bass on the planet a little more exciting. It hasn't worked.

If the execution had been better (considerably better), that might have made a nice unusual instrument.

[quote name='BigBeatNut' timestamp='1319910641' post='1420087'] Maybe I'm interpreting the the perspective wrong, but it looks to me like that won't intonate correctly. (In addition to not being pleasant to look at) Andy[/quote] Correct. The auction description says something about strange tuning, that'll be because the principle of having the 12th fret halfway along the string is one that has eluded the Butcher of the Bass.

Seen on That Ebay: [attachment=92140:yuk2.jpg] [attachment=92139:yuk1.jpg] And another one I just don't get on with:

I bought my JD Thumb in 1987 for £900 (I think my somewhat battered 70s Precision had cost me £125 a year earlier). It was a huge amount of money but once I played that neck, I was hooked. I still haven't encountered a better (to my hands) 4-string neck. The later Thumbs I wouldn't bother with (haven't tried the most recent slimmed down ones yet though, but £2650 for a 5-string that is rather more mass-produced than my old Thumb seems rather costly) - I did buy a 2000 Thumb but had it defretted and the neck reprofiled to the same dimensions as the JD Thumb. I wouldn't say the early Thumb neck was either C or D, it's (|. I've played quite a few Spectors and would like to get on with them because it seems to me you can get some bargains, but I just don't like that thick neck. And the most important thing about a bass to me is the neck.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-guitar-copy-/130590795124?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item1e67d16574"]Playing safe...[/url] Might have backfired though, no bids on it yet. Or it might be rubbish, of course.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1319024834' post='1408964']I think a quick look at these beauties puts everything into perspective: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CUSTOM-BUILT-BASS-GUITAR-L-K-/180739108368?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a14e3ee10"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2a14e3ee10[/url][/quote] Marvellous. "I ALSO NEED TO POINT OUT THAT THE TUNING IS A BIT STRANGE MAYBE YOU CAN SORT IT OUT OR EXTEND THE BOTTOM OF THE BODY SO THE BRIDGE CAN GO FURTHER BACK...ITS ASHAME FOR SUCH A NICE INSTRUMENT TO BE HUNG ON THE WALL...THEN AGAIN WHY NOT...ITS A WORK OF ART..." That would be because you don't understand the basic principle that the 12th fret comes halfway along the string...

[quote name='yorick' timestamp='1318940924' post='1407966'] Been reading over on TB about the Antoniotsai basses..... opinions are very divided over there Hopefully see you there.[/quote] Indeed. Some people own them and some people slag them off. The two groups have no overlap.

I should be coming along, although due to last-minute issues I haven't made the last Nottingham one or the Startford one so I'm reluctant to promise anything. I'll probably bring an Antoniotsai or two and maybe a Warwick and a Peavey.